The present invention relates to a vehicle seat assembly and in particular to one having a thermoformed suspension panel made of a resin or thermoplastic impregnated compressed fibrous bat to provide suspension for the seat pad and in some cases, an external shell or rear trim cover for the seat back.
Efforts are being made in the automotive industry to reduce the negative environmental impact of motor vehicles. One way doing this is to increase the amount of recycled materials that go into a new automobile. Another way is to recycle components from a motor vehicle at the end of a vehicle's useful life. A third way of reducing the negative environmental impact of a vehicle is to reduce the number of individual components in a vehicle by designing components that perform multiple functions instead of just one function. This can reduce the quantity of raw material used in a vehicle as well as reduce the time and energy required to produce the vehicle.
By recycling the seat components, several different processes are contemplated. The most preferred process is to reuse a seat component without any alteration from its original form. The next level is to reclaim a component and manufacture it into another useful component. This has been done regularly with most metals in which the reclaimed parts are melted down and remade into a new component. The next level is to shred the components, such as the foam pad, into small pieces that can be used in another product such as rebonded carpet padding. This is less desirable in that the carpet padding, after its useful life, is not reused and is land filled. Fourth, and least preferred, is shredding of the seat components followed by land filling of the shredded materials.
The seat assembly of the present invention facilitates the recycling of the vehicle seat assembly by providing a suspension panel for supporting the seat pad that can be made of a recycled material and which can be reclaimed and manufactured into a new component after the useful life of the seat assembly. When the suspension panel is also used as the rear trim cover of a seat back, multi-tasking is involved, using a single component for both the suspension as well as the rear trim panel. This serves to reduce the number of components in a seat assembly.
The suspension panel of the present invention is manufactured of a resin or thermoplastic impregnated compressed fibrous bat material. Plastic fibers are preferred, such polyethelyne terephthalate (PET) from recycled beverage containers, virgin PET fibers or post industrial polypropylene. Alternatively, offal from various manufacturing processes can be used, such as offal from vehicle head liner manufacturing. Other fibers can be used as well. Plastic fibers are preferred over natural fibers such as cotton or wood pulp due to their resistance to absorption of water. However, cotton fibers and other natural fibers can be used in the suspension panel.
The panels are formed with corrugations and other contours that provide for differing degrees of flexibility in the panel at different locations. With each particular seat design, the suspension panel can be individually designed to provide specific deflection characteristics. The deflection characteristics will be designed in conjunction with the seat pad to provide a desired comfort.
The suspension panel can be thermoformed and bonded to a covering fabric during the thermoforming process to provide a decorative exterior surface to the suspension panel. This is particularly useful when the panel also serves as a seat shell forming exterior surface of the seat back. A fabric surface matching that of the seat trim cover overlying the seat pad can be bonded directly to the suspension panel.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.